Now your choices are do you replace the entire right side of your island or do you grind and polish the spot, risking uneven light reflection?

This post was edited by Trebruchet on Fri, Mar 28, 14 at 19:49

First, drown it in Tenax Pectrol and cover it to slow evaporation. We'll leave it for the weekend and hope for the best. It's the opposite of poulticing. We're in uncharted territory here. It may work or do nothing. At least it's exciting.

That makes me cringe just looking at it. I will be interested to see what happens.

Yikes! I wouldn't have thought that granite is that delicate! Is it the resin or sealer that reacted with the Lysol?

Texas_Gem:

Me too. I don't usually post jobs in progress, but I'm going to make GW readers suffer along with me for the next two days.

I admit I'm an old solid surface fabricator and the
"granite this" and "granite that" posts get to me. Solid surface would have laughed at that toilet bowl cleaner.

fiesty68:

Niether. The chemical has sucked the color out of the stone. In this picture you can see the gloss has been unaffected; you can't feel a thing.

How can that possibly happen? I can understand light color granite getting stained, but not a dark color granite having the color sucked out of it. Is it possible that your counter was dyed somehow to enhance the color? Or maybe it was sealed and the Lysol is reacting to the sealer?

Wow, look at that crappy seam, right through the sink. ; )

How horrifying that must have been for the owners to move the box and see it like that. Ugggh.

Perhaps if your fix doesn't work, they could put the Lysol over the entire counter and create an all new colored countertop. Who knows, it might become all the rage! You'll see all of us here discussing the best method to put Lysol on the countertop to obtain just the proper amount of bleaching. ;-) Okay, maybe not.

Anyway, good luck...I hope it helps. And thanks for the reminder not to put the toilet bowl cleaner on the granite.

Well, that is very educational! Thanks for sharing Trebuchet.

I am not optimistic. There are guys more experienced than I who say this is toast, but I find challenges like this irresistible.

By the way, and mods this is not advertising, I collect upon customer satisfaction only. If I don't get it out, I don't get paid. I don't know how you could run a surface restoration business any other way.

"Wow, look at that crappy seam, right through the sink. ; )"

I'll scrape off the excess adhesive he left, throw some Pectrol on it and maybe some CA with a scrape and buff and it should look much better.

" Is it possible that your counter was dyed somehow to enhance the color?"

jerzeegirl:

Yes. Dying is common practice in the stone industry. But you didn't hear that from me. I don't want to get kicked off any more industry chat boards.

Yeah, bleach can't remove the ions that give minerals their color - the color is inside the crystal structure and I can't fathom how any topical liquid could change that. I'm guessing the cleaner reacted with sealer, resin or dye.

Can you procure some professional-grade granite dye -- what do they use? With the caveat that I'm a total granite-know-nothing, I'd be flooding it with that as my next try, since a poultice doesn't seem destined to do anything at all for a bleached spot.

circuspeanut:

Tenax Pectrol is professional granite dye. This is the opposite of a poultice.

Hey, good luck Trebuchet! This is fun! .... from here :) When you're done, you can come up with something to deal with this please:

We figure it's lime dust from the shop. This was a scrap and was likely sitting about for years, presumably masked along most of the slab by other slabs lying against it. The fabricator says there's some product that can smooth the color out. Maybe this is it??

aliris19:

That looks like classic ultraviolet light degradation of the resin to me. The dark section was protected from sunlight, the light was not. Leave the whole thing in the direct sun for a few years and it may even up.

I don't know if it could be re-resined or not. Maybe.

Great post Trebuchet,
Lysol toilet bowl cleaner is about 30-35% hydrochloric acid.
While granites are acid resistant stronger acids such as hydrochloric ,hydrofluoric and other strong industrial type acids will etch the stone. I agree with Karin you cannot bleach color out of minerals that give the stone its color.
However etching will always be lighter than the stone which is what happened here. Even in a stone like Uba -tuba(is it uba -tuba?) that is very dense the acid seems to penetrate and damage deeply. I have tried to refinish similar damages using diamond abrasives with limited success. Even grinding deeply which has its limits anyway
hasn't removed the damage in most cases.
It seems it depends on the type of acid, the time it sat on the surface and the petrology or geology of the stone.
Also take into account if the stone has been resined or dyed. Even weak acids will degrade dyed materials that are looked upon by the industry as a fraudulent practice.
Resined materials are much more durable and are accepted by the industry.
In this case like Trubechet said many will call it toast but worth trying to repair. The pectro is usually used as a finishing product to hide micro fissures and surface webbing. Tepox V is a resin/dye that may help to put color back in but you will need to open the surface using abrasives. Then color it and refinish the surface.
Teox has a good range of colors so it could be possible to get close.
Good luck with your experiment.
Aliris19-the green stuff on the face of the stone is algae or lichen growth from being outside in different conditions.
You will see the same type of growth on natural stones outside in their natural environment. Just take a nice hike in a national or local park (in the woods of course) and you will see lots of this.
For this chlorine bleach, oxygen bleach should remove it.
place some paper towels about 6-7 ply high on the affected area then wet with bleach and leave on for 3-4 hours and remove. repeat if needed.
Just a note chlorine bleach is toxic to plants ,pets etc.
Oxygen bleach is safer to use and wont harm plants ,pets etc. So if you were to do a patio oxygen bleach is the way to go.
But for small projects regular bleach should work.
If it doesn't a biocide may do better.

Treb - cool post. Thanks for sharing. My kitchen Reno is essentially done but I find that I am now addicted to GW! Looking forward to seeing the results of your efforts.

So this is making me nervous to use lysol products. Should I start reading labels and avoid cleaners that have those acids srosen mentioned? What about lysol tub and basin cleaner? Regular lysol disinfectant? What about Dow scrubbing bubbles?

debrak2008:

It isn't just Lysol products, oven cleaner and rust remover will tear granite up just like this. I posted this so folks will know that granite isn't the be-all, end-all of countertops as so many of its fans proclaim.

All countertops have limitations and trade-offs. Consumers have to assess how they live, what they can tolerate, and choose accordingly.

srosen:

Thanks for the comments. I may opt out of a grind and polish even if she admits in writing the top is ruined and agrees to hold me harmless. Once I touch it with a tool I own it and I'm not sure that's a risk I'm willing to take.

Hi srosen - I don't want to hijack this post ... but the green on my stone is in the stone, I believe. I don't think there's anything differential between either sides of the line about the green... Is it to me that you are suggesting the bleaching-wtih-towels? Yikes. I don't mind the discoloration enough for that!

Trebuchet - we're on tenterhooks to see the outcome!

I clean my granites with Clorox cleaner w/Bleach, but only after preparing raw meats. Of course I only spray on and wipe of after less than a minute. Have never had any issues cleaning this way. My granites have been in existing homes, so at least 10+ years old.

I take that back, in the previous house the granite was a white/gray/black speckled granite and it would stain with wine and juice if left overnight. The stains would always come out if I left the Clorox bleach cleaner sitting on the stain for 20 minutes or so. No damage to counters.

I wonder if those of us that own and have owned older stones have products that are more "natural" and not as "processed" as new products.

Looking forward to seeing how you tackle this.

Good grief aliris,
I saw your pic this morning on my phone.
Again reading fast I assumed it was a scrap in the stone yard.
Ofcourse now I feel somewhat foolish cause I just looked at your other pics and didn't know it was installed in your home..
When I visit stone yards I usually collect scraps and pieces that have been left outside for years. We practice and test different techniques on the scraps.
I see a similar green color on many of those old pieces.
Sorry I just assumed that your stone had that issue.
I may be wrong and would agree with Treb.

So what happened with it Treb? Don't leave us hanging!!

"An intelligent mind recognizes defeat."

The Curious Savage

John Patrick, 1950

It has obviously darkened a bit, but certainly not enough for me to collect any money. She's going to have her fabricator remake the right side of the island eventually. Right now she's going with the rounded placemat fix. He's quoted her between $800-$1,500.00. I can't imagine removing the sink and top, re-fabricating, and re-installing everything for less than $1,500.00, but I'm never shocked at how cheaply many granite fabricators will work.

What a bummer!! So it can't be "re-dyed"? I would kill my husband!! haha But, $1500 does seem very reasonable. Hopefully they found someone good and they won't be trading one problem for another, like a bad seam. Good try though!!

I have to admit, part of me was really hoping you would be a miracle worker and somehow fix it.

Oh well, word to the wise, keep harsh chemicals away from the counters!!

Nice work pants, Treb!

I also found out today he apparently let the Lysol set a day or two. It's one thing if it were an hour, but this is probably 1/4" deep. Any grinding to attempt removal would have to have been feathered over the undamaged left side. If the attempt was unsuccessful, the ground left side wouldn't match up to a flat replacement right, so the whole top would have to be replaced.

In the repair business, there is a small cost-effectiveness window you've got to hit to be a value. If I could have gotten 80% of the look for 20% of $1,500.00 ($300.00) I would have collected. The technology just isn't there yet.

"Nice work pants, Treb!"

may_flowers:

Thanks and the white bows on my work boots help keep me in touch with my feminine side too.

At least it was the husband's fault!!!(and an honest mistake for someone who hasn't read GW and all your posts, and Karin's about CT materials.

Cover your ears Trebuchet -

I think some artful surface application of coloured Sharpie dots would probably mostly hide the problem. It wouldn't last forever, but it could be reapplied. The homeowners and any fabricator would ALWAYS notice, but the rest of world probably wouldn't.

Such an interesting thread, thanks for posting it. I think I might print out a glossy or laminated scaled-to-size photo of the granite and use that as temp camouflage until getting the counter replace. I'm surprised the new piece is only a $1,500 fix, seems quite reasonable, but it's not cheap. A photo would be just a few dollars. Poor husband!

"I think some artful surface application of coloured Sharpie dots would probably mostly hide the problem. It wouldn't last forever, but it could be reapplied. The homeowners and any fabricator would ALWAYS notice, but the rest of world probably wouldn't."

Tried it. Didn't work.

Bummer. What about DIY painting (e.g. below)? I think the main goal at this point is to hide the blotch (so it's not noticeable from a difference) and accept that the surface texture won't be perfect. Obviously I have no idea how paint would adhere to a surface designed to resist that.

I should probably just look up threads where people have dark stains that they DON'T want :/

Here is a link that might be useful: for example

feisty68:

While I appreciate all suggestions, I'm running a business. As such, I am constantly weighing cost effectiveness. By investing my time (money) I took a calculated risk that I may be able to make this better in the hope of an economic reward. I am successful enough that I'm allowed to take on an occasional long-shot and fail without going broke.

Although I lost money (time) I did gain knowledge on this one and that's worth money in the future.

Oh, I totally understand Trebuchet.

I was simply putting myself in the homeowner's shoes...how would I deal with that? Cause I'm about to have granite installed in a household where...things happen :/

Tre- interesting and helpful. I have quartz and says no bleach but I bet oxalicetic acid is out as well.
Circuspeanut- good to see you again. I always remember your copper counters. I bet copper would recover

The saga continues. The homeowner has been on the internet and tried applying paint stripper, then paint. Here are the results.

The gloss is obscured and when I tried to dab on a little polish to smooth the paint, it removed the paint and exposed the gloss and color loss. I put a little wax on top which removed a little of the paint, but restored some gloss.

Of course this is nothing I could charge for and therefore have my name associated with, but she's pleased that if someone moves their plate, the top won't scream at them.

I bought some toilet bowl cleaner and I have an experiment underway as I type. I'll keep you posted.

Yay for the freaked out homeowner :) . I doubt anyone would ever notice this and it's great to know that it's possible. Awesome that you are helping her with this.

Wow, that looks really good in the pics! I'm sure it would still drive me nuts, but at least it doesn't need to be replaced right now. They at least bought some time before wanting to replace it.